


A Gift Adorned In Silk And Pearls

by Sirenswhisper



Category: Black Sails
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, M/M, sea gods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 15:00:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12213237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sirenswhisper/pseuds/Sirenswhisper
Summary: England is desperate to appease the gods disrupting their navy and trade. Thomas becomes a sacrifice to the sea gods who are demanding him.





	A Gift Adorned In Silk And Pearls

**Author's Note:**

> I needed an AU where Thomas is dressed in silk and pearls and this is what happened.

The first England knew of the new sea gods who has risen from the depths was when a merchant vessel was raided by pirates and two blazing, dripping figures had boarded also. A man and a woman who could call upon the waters to move ships without wind and who could call up waves to the top most sails to drown a whole crew.

The next ship they hit was a sleek navy ship that had been guarding the sea lanes. Soon after a slave ship was caught by them. The crew threw their cargo of slaves into the sea and prayed the sacrifice was enough. The slaves were gathered up in the gentlest embrace water can give and were placed aboard the pirate him where they were later freed. The sacrifice had been rejected and the sea gods boarded the ship. 

After that every ship they took was carved with the name 'Thomas Hamilton'. Whispers started amongst merchants, and MPs were petitioned by rich families to do something. Whitehall ignored them. 

It wasn't until great warships returned with the name carved into the deck and bulkheads, and sailors and officers alike screaming of sea gods that action was taken. 

Whitehall knew action had to be taken and it was decided the only thing they could do was to give the sea gods the sacrifice they demanded. The old laws were invoked and the day was declared a holiday for all. 

At dawn Admiral Hennessey and Peter Ashe arrived at Bethlem Royal Hospital and were shown inside. They weren't left to wait long for Thomas Hamilton to be brought to them. Freshly stripped, scrubbed and his beard shaved. 

Thomas shivered in the morning air and refused to meet their eyes. Instead he looked past them and touched the points on his wrists where chains had rubbed the skin raw. 

"Put this on." Peter Ashe held out the white silk clothing that would mark Thomas as the sacrifice. 

Thomas swallowed and accepted it from him with a flinch and a pained expression. He dressed quickly and some of his shivering eased. 

Hennessey opened the box he'd brought with him and Peter Ashe took out the crown made of silver and pearls. The pale ones were nestled in with the metal, while the black pearls hung down on where they were rest amongst the sacrifice's hair. 

The crown was set upon Thomas head and a chain of silver and pearls was wrapped around his neck and wrists. 

Thomas looked down at himself and then away. There were worst ways of dying, and he'd had his share of agonies since being locked away. These were the first comfortable clothes he'd been allowed in months. The luxury he'd taken for granted his whole live now felt like a blessing. 

He couldn't make himself feel sad as he was led from the hell he'd been imprisoned in and helped into an open top carriage by Admiral Hennessey. Thomas didn't dare look at the man James had thought of as a father. To do so would make him angry at the man, and Thomas wanted his final feelings to be of acceptance and contentment. 

According to Peter Ashe, James and Miranda had died at sea. So it was only fitting that he died there too. He could feel the pull of the waves from here as they invited him beneath them. 

Peter Ashe and Admiral Hennessey joined him in his open top carriage that would be the centrepiece in a procession through the streets of London. He would then be taken into the country to the same beach every sacrifice of the sea had been taken to generations before. 

"Once we start moving it will get loud. I am sorry to say you will be the centre of attention. Crowds were already gathering as we passed through on our way here," Admiral Hennessey said. 

He didn't sound how Thomas was expecting. Peaking a look at his face Thomas found more compassion there then Peter's face had ever shown. 

"Is it true? That it's me they asked for directly?" Thomas asked. 

"Your name has been carved into 20 ships in mere months. Private, merchant and Navy alike. It was decided that sending you to them might be the only way to appease them." Hennessey leaned forward to adjust the chain where it was wrapped around Thomas' left wrist. 

Thomas forced himself to remain still as he felt Hennessey rest a thumb on the back of his hand for a moment. It was the first gentle touch Thomas had felt since he was dragged from his house, and he was sure Hennessey had meant it in comfort. 

Hennessey sat back, his face once more a professional mask, and told the driver to take them into place amongst the procession. The carriage lurched and Thomas sat up straighter with his hands clenched around each other. 

The procession was made up of carriages holding lords, ladies, MPs and members of the Admiralty. Thomas had no doubt that his father was amongst those in the carriages. Most likely sat with his friends and talking of how Thomas would finally be of some use to them. 

Thomas unclenched his jaw and fixed his gaze over the drivers shoulder. He didn't want to be present in his own mind when they passed the crowds. He had endured enough staring and jeering from his months in Bethlem to stand it now. 

The streets were packed with people on either side. There was waving and shouting as the procession went past. It seemed never ending to Thomas as he tried to block out the sights and sounds by picturing James' smile and Miranda's voice when she sang. He would be with them again soon, and in death they would never again be parted. 

"Thomas, I just wanted to say how sorry I am about all this. If there was something I could have done-" Peter said. 

"I think you've done quite enough. I had taken action and counter-action against my father. There was nothing he could do to me or to those I loved, until you betrayed us. I know what a plan looks like when it is set into action by your hand." Thomas kept his voice calm and cold as he tried to fight down the boiling rage inside him. He couldn't forgive what had happened to James and Miranda, nor could he forgive Peter for what he had been subjected to. 

"Thomas, please-" Peter implored. 

"Do you have any idea of the pain, cold, indignity and outright humiliation I have suffered because of your actions?" Thomas refused to turn and look at him but he caught Peter's flinch out of the corner of his eye. 

"I had to for-" 

"This is to my last day alive. If you have any decency you will respect my wishes and remain silent for the duration of thus journey." Thomas spat. 

*

It was approaching noon when their procession arrived at the sacrificial beach. Peter Ashe dismounted the carriage first and walked off to speak to some acquaintance. Hennessey got down next and held out a hand to assist Thomas. 

Thomas had done more walking today than he had in months and his legs felt unsteady as he stood up. He accepted Hennessey's help and stepped onto the sand. His feet were bare and the sand crept between his toes. 

"What happens now?" Thomas asked.

"We wait until noon, then I will walk you into the sea," Hennessey said. 

"Where I'll die." 

"Where the sea gods who demanded you will claim you for their own." 

"You mean, I'm not going to die?" Thomas asked. 

"Why would they kill you after all the trouble they have gone to for you?" Hennessey started walking across the sand and Thomas kept pace as best he could. 

"Then, they must either really want me, or really hate me."

"I do not know who your enemies are, but I do know one man who would burn down the world for those he loves." Hennessey looked out to sea with a pained experience. "If you meet my son, please tell him I'm so sorry." 

"James?" Thomas asked. 

"I cannot think of who else it would be, can you?"

"But there are two sea gods. Wait, Miranda?" 

"There is that chance that they became sea gods instead of dying. Allow an old, broken man his small comforts?" Hennessey looked at Thomas who inclined his head. 

"I will see them one way or another. I will tell your son that you are sorry, and that you've shown me the first kindness I've had since I was taken from them." Thomas looked out to sea. 

His heart didn't have enough hope in it to believe that James and Miranda had survived and were waiting for him. Yet his heart felt the lightest it had been since being thrown in his cold dark cell. He would be in their arms soon, and in death he was sure he would find peace. 

Hennessey stayed with him as they waited for noon and Thomas was glad to have quiet company. It allowed him to tune out the voices and laughter of those he had once called friends, allies and enemies. Now he was almost beneath their notice, just an object of brief entertainment during their social gathering. 

He slipped back into his memories of James and Miranda. Of the sound of their voices when they read and the warmth of their touch. How their fingers felt on his skin and the way sunlight would catch on their hair. 

A particularly booming laugh broke through his thoughts and caused Thomas to flinch. He recognised that laugh too clearly from his days in Bethlem. 

"Come, we can afford to walk closer to the sea." Hennessey had noticed Thomas' flinch. 

"You must despise me," Thomas said. 

"Dispise you?" 

"Yes. For not being able to save James." Thomas let out a long shaky breathe. "I love him, but I didn't protect him. I allowed him to put himself in the line of fire, and to your eyes it must have looked like I put him there." 

It was the first time he could say those words and fear nothing. There was nothing anyone could do to him now. He didn't have to worry about being overheard by servants on his father's pay or guests that stood too close to private conversations so they could eves-drop. It was freeing. In this moment he could admit the truth without suffering water treatments and purgatives for his honesty. 

"I know you love him. I know he loves you. I tried to warn him away from you, from your family. I lost your son, but you lost your loves. It is not you I hold accountable. It would be easier if I did, for getting revenge on you would be very easy." Hennessey looked out to the horizon. 

"You mean to get revenge?" Thomas asked. 

"I mean to prevent them ever being able to harm someone like that again." 

"I assume you have a plan?" 

"Of a sort. Tell me, do I have your blessing to have Alfred Hamilton tried for treason?" Hennessey looked at Thomas. 

"Talk to William Snatt, at one point my father trusted him. He's been in enough trouble already, I doubt it would take much for him to give you everything he knows." 

"I appreciate it." 

"If you find one of my old servants and ask them for mine and Miranda's social ledger they will give you our book of all the blackmail material we ever collected. Much of it went unused by us, but you might find more purpose for it," Thomas said. 

"You dispise them?" Hennessey flicked his eyes to the high society they'd walked away from. 

"How could I not? I knew them to be cowards, hypocrites, and backstabbers, but watching as they stand by and do nothing as I lose everything gave me a hatred for them I didn't think I was capable of. They're enjoying my suffering. They gloat where I can hear them, then leave me in my freezing cell as they go back to their luxurious homes and their fires that I can only dream of." Thomas' voice cracked under the weight of his grief and trauma. 

Hennessey didn't speak and Thomas looked out to sea. 

"If I could control the sea I would drown them all." Thomas whispered. 

Peter Ashe came across the sand to meet them with a fixed smile and a cold look in his eye. Hennessey glanced up at the sky and huffed out a breath. 

"He's here to tell you it's time. Let us walk to the water." Hennessey offered Thomas his arm and Thomas looked down at it with a frown. "For balance. You do not have much strength and it would not be a good idea for you to fall and break something before the sea gods accept you as a sacrifice." 

"Why would that matter?" Thomas asked. 

"Because sea gods take insult when you give them 'damaged goods'." Peter Ashe stopped in front of them. "Your destiny awaits." 

Thomas gave Peter one last long, cold look then accepted Hennessey's arm. 

Peter left them to rejoin the other backstabbers and Hennessey walked Thomas to the edge of the sea. The waves came rushing up and touched the tips of Thomas' toes. Thomas took an unsteady breath that was likely to be one of his last. 

"You really think the sea gods could be them?" Thomas asked. 

"The only one who can know that for sure will be you. Are you ready to rejoin them?" Hennessey asked. 

"Yes. Please take me to them." Thomas took a step into the waves. The water was cold and he feel it pulling on every inch of skin it touched. 

"Do not look back at the beach. Their expressions will only bring you pain. It will all be over soon," Hennessey said. 

With every step Thomas took the pull got stronger and the silk became saturated and heavy. By the time the water was up to his knees he was finding it difficult to stay upright and leaned heavily on Hennessey's arm. 

"How much further?" Thomas felt his heart pounding. His body not wanting to give up living even as his mind was set upon it. 

"Waist height should do it. By that point I will lose grip on you entirely and you will be pulled under the waves to them." 

Thomas nodded and took another step. He pictured James and Miranda's smiles and it being their hands pulling him towards them. 

"I am going to let go of you soon," Hennessey said as the water came up to Thomas' mid-thighs. 

"I'm scared," Thomas whispered. "It feels like a Bethlem water treatment. I just want it to stop." 

"Three more steps." 

Each time Thomas lifted his feet the pull of the water threatened to take his other leg out from under him. Thomas lift his foot to take the last step and Hennessey let go. Thomas caught one last look at his face before he was submerged. 

A scream stuck in his throat as he thrashed and flailed. The cold water pressed in on his face and lungs and he saw flashes of people before his eyes that he could only assume where doctors and orderlies. When he lost his footing he must have sunk lower than he thought, for he couldn't find the surface and Hennessey's legs were no where to be seen. 

The water warmed the longer he was there until it stopped biting at his skin. It grew clearer around him and the water now looked blue instead of grey. It felt like a warm bath from his life before.

Two pairs of hands took hold of his arms and with a heave he was pulled clear of the water. The scream in his throat finally came loose and he screamed and screamed until the hands let him go. 

"Thomas?" 

"Thomas, it's ok you're safe now." 

Thomas knew those voices, they were etched deep into his heart. He was finally reunited with James and Miranda. Thomas opened his eyes and let out a whine at the brightness of the sun. Movement came from beside him, then the sun was blocked by James' face. 

"James? Miranda?" Thomas sat up and put his hand to his aching throat. 

James threw his arms around Thomas and clutched him to his chest. Miranda let out a relieved gasp and with a hand on both their shoulders she knelt up and pressed her face into Thomas' hair. Overcome by such love and safety Thomas burst into tears. 

*  
As Thomas calmed in James' embrace, Miranda removed the crown from his head and gently unwrapped the chain from his arms and neck. She set the silver and pearls aside and pressed a kiss to his forehead. 

"I'll get something for you to wear and dry off." She stood up and entered the house over the water that the decking they were sat on was connected to. 

"No one will ever harm you again," James whispered into his skin. 

Thomas took steadying breaths and looked around them. The little house was situated on the edge of a mist covered island. The air was humid and soft against his skin. The fresh, sweet smell of it was like nothing he'd ever experienced and his lungs were grateful of the change. 

His silk clothing stuck to him far worse than when he was redressed after a water treatment in bethlem, but he felt none of the cold he had come to associate with the sensation. 

Thomas pressed his face into James' chest and inhaled the longed for scent of his truest love. He was finally home.


End file.
